A cab ride in Paris to an everlasting friendship

By Kelsey Butler '13 '14
Published Monday Aug. 19, 2013

No one would have thought getting lost in a taxi cab in Paris on a study abroad trip would lead to a lifetime of friendship, but for Joey Fago '05 and Denise Fraile '06 it did. Denise said, “It’s those kinds of experiences that start a lasting friendship.”

Since the trip to Paris, Denise who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in design, started her own branding and marketing company – Verati International.  The company developed quickly, gaining clients like Mercedes Benz, Prudential, and NFL players Lance Briggs and Willis McGahee.

Joey, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in hospitality management, went to work with NuVista, the “game changing,” healthcare providing company his family started.  Their Lynn friendship rekindled, Joey and Denise began working together like they had in class and for business competitions.  Pairing the two companies, Denise designed the entire brand for NuVista. 

Both Joey and Denise come from entrepreneurial families, but they are just as passionate about philanthropy as they are about their companies.  In 2010, Joey won Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Man of the Year when he broke all the standing records and raised just under $70,000 in merely 10 weeks.  Denise followed the next year as Woman of the Year runner-up when she secured the single largest sponsorship from Mercedes Benz and raised just under $60,000 in 10weeks.

The two agree that the relationships created at Lynn are unique.  At a larger university, Joey and Denise may not have had the opportunity to bond like they did at Lynn.  It was “because of the intimate classroom and campus setting” that their friendship was able to flourish and they were able to grow much closer than most students would at a large school. 

From the funny times they had in the long, lost Ritter building to the business deals they share today, Lynn helped these two create an everlasting friendship.